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  3. It is said that in England death is pressing, in Canada inevitable and in California option al. Small wonder, Americans life exp

It is said that in England death is pressing, in Canada inevitable and in California option al. Small wonder, Americans life exp

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问题    It is said that in England death is pressing, in Canada inevitable and in California option al. Small wonder, Americans life expectancy has nearly doubled over the past century. Failing hips can be replaced, clinical depression controlled, cataracts removed in a 30-minute surgical procedure. Such advances offer the aging population a quality of life that was unimaginable when I entered medicine 50 years ago. But not even a great health-care system can cure death--and our failure to confront that reality now threatens this greatness of ours.
   Death is normal; we are genetically programmed to disintegrate and perish, even under ideal conditions. We all understand that at some level, yet as medical consumers, we treat death as a problem to be solved. Shielded by third-party payers from the cost of our care, we demand everything that call possibly be done for us, even if it’s useless. The most obvious ex ample is late-stage cancer care. Physicians-frustrated by their inability to cure the disease and fearing loss of hope in the patient--too often offer aggressive treatment far beyond what is scientifically justified.
   In 1950, the U. S. spent $12.7 billion on health care. In 2002, the cost will be $1, 540 billion. Anyone can see this trend is unsustainable. Yet few seem willing to try to reverse it. Some scholars conclude that a government with finite resources should simply stop paying for medical care that sustains life beyond a certain age--say 83 or so. Former Colorado governor Richard Lamm has been quoted as saying that the old and infirm" have a duty to die and get out of the way", so that younger healthier people can realize their potential.
   I would not go that far. Energetic people now routinely work through their 60s and be yond, and remain dazzlingly productive. At 78, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone jokingly claims to be 53. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is in her 70s, and former surgeon general C. Everett Koop chairs an Internet start-up in his 80s. These leaders are living proof that prevention works and that we can manage the health problems that come naturally with age. As a mere 68-year-old, I wish to age as productively as they have.
   Yet there are limits to what a society can spend in this pursuit. As a physician, I know the most costly and dramatic measures may be ineffective and painful. I also know that people in Japan and Sweden, countries that spend far less on medical care, have achieved longer, healthier lives than we have. As a nation, we may be over funding the quest for unlikely cures while under funding research on humbler therapies that could improve people’s lives.
In contrast to the U. S. , Japan and Sweden are funding their medical care______.
选项 A、more flexibly
B、more extravagantly
C、more cautiously
D、more reasonably
答案D
解析 本题为事实细节题。文章最后一段以日本和瑞典为例，说明医疗费用不必过高，仍旧可以达到健康长寿的效果。因此，选项D“更合理”是对日本、瑞典两国在医疗方面资金的投入的描述，是本题的答案。选项A“更灵活”，选项B“更奢侈”，选项C“更谨慎”都不符合文章意思。
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